OUTDOOR FUN IN A LUMBER CAMP
SNOW and ice prevailed after the middle of November, and the cold was there to stay for the winter. The roads already cut out had frozen hard before the snow came, and that made easy travelling for the huge sledges that carried the timber from forest to riverside.
The men were now cutting close to the main road, and the walk from camp to cutting was not so tiresome for the ladies and children, and it often happened that they visited the men in the afternoon.
The children had toy hatchets and saws, and they loved to play about the felled trees, chopping off small branches or sawing off rough fragments. Then, too, it was fine sport to be lifted up on top of a high heap of huge logs and ride down to the river-bank. On the return trip they would sit down on the low braces of the sledge, and the horses would make quick time with no load to pull.
One Saturday morning the sun shone so brightly that Mrs. Starr said the children might go with Mike, to play near the cutting, but they must keep a long distance away from the actual work of the men.
The men had come across a dip in the forest which was filled with water, and this water had frozen solid during the past week. The trees had been cut before the ice was hard, and here was offered a nice spot for skating. The children slung their skates over their shoulders and planned hockey games, and tag, and other sports on the ice. When they beheld the pond, however, they soon realized that it would be impossible to play hockey, but tag! Yes, tag would be great fun, as the stumps stuck up through the ice, here and there, and the skater could dodge around these stumps to get away from the one who was "it."
Babs had her tiny shovel and hatchet to play with, and Mike sat down on a log to watch over the children. They shouted, skated and tore at each other for a long time, then wearied of the game and sat down on the log by Mike to hear a story.
Just as Mike finished telling of an adventure, a loaded sledge came down the road and Paul called to the driver.
"Give us a ride?"
"Climb up!" replied the man.
"Room for us all?" asked Meredith.
"'Nodder comin' right behind," replied the driver.
Paul looked and nodded.
"Mete, you and the kids get on this one with Mike, and Vene, Elizabeth and I will get on the next load. We'll all meet down by the river and come back together."
"Let's take our dinner with us and eat it down there. Then we can sit on the logs by the river and come back with the men on the next load," suggested Meredith.
"Good idea!" exclaimed Paul. "You get up on this and I'll run for the lunch boxes and get back before the other sleigh gets here."
So the Starr children, with Mike, climbed up and sat upon the logs of the first sledge, and the other children waited for the second load to come in sight.
The sleigh-ride over the rough road to the river was great fun, for often the sleigh would bump over a huge snow-covered stump or rock, and make the children roll against each other and cling fast to the chains that bound the logs together.
The horses went slowly, for the loads were heavy and the road hard and rough, so the ride of two miles took some time.
The children had visited the roll-ways at the river before, but had never had an opportunity to remain and understand the whole scene.
Arrived at the roll-ways, the men made quick work of unloading the logs from the sledge and rolling them down to the river's edge. In many cases, where the water was shallow, or the ice thick enough, the logs were rolled out a few feet, and piled up in tiers so that when the spring freshet came they would sink down into the water and be the first to float down stream.
In several instances, rafts had been made and floated out a short distance from the shore, and here the timber-men used to fish before the river froze over. These rafts were still there, and the ice between them and the shore was safe.
After the sledges returned to the forest, Meredith suggested that they walk out to the rafts and have their lunch there. The other children greeted the idea with glee and Mike looked carefully about to decide that it was all right.
"Mike get fire, boys take dinner out," advised Mike, as he began picking up kindlings and pieces of wood for a fire.
The children picked up their dinner boxes and started off across the ice. The largest raft held all of them, and soon Mike came over with a huge bundle of wood that he dragged across the ice to the raft.
He deftly prepared a kindling fire and placed a few of the large pine chunks upon it. In a short time the children were as warm as if it were summer time, and the smoke of the wood fire rose straight up in the clear windless air.
They enjoyed the novelty of the raft dinner so much that several loads came and the sledges returned before the children were willing to talk of going back.
"This is dandy ice—wish we could take a skate up and down," ventured Don.
"'Tis fine ice, isn't it?" abetted Meredith, looking up and down the river as far as eye could see.
"Let's! Just one spin around," said Paul.
"Mike won't like it," hinted Lavinia.
"Mike won't care. We are perfectly safe on such thick ice," said Don, looking out of the tail of his eye in Mike's direction.
Mike squatted on the raft smoking his pipe, but he said nothing. He was thinking over the words the children had spoken.
"Mike, guess we'll take a spin over the ice," said Paul.
"Mike no like him—pouf! full of holes of air!" said Mike, making a sound to show the children the danger of air-holes.
"We know an air-hole when we see it—and I can't see any of them around here," replied Paul.
"Besides, we are only going to skate around the raft," said Don.
"Mike no like him, big boys like him, what Mike can do?" said the Indian helplessly, as he shrugged his shoulders.
"Mike, I won't go—neither shall Dot," said Lavinia.
"Oh, but I am, Viney! Don't think that I am going to sit here like a baby when Don is off streaking across the ice or doing the 'outer edge,'" retorted Dot, taking her skates from the bag and unbuckling the heel straps.
Two sledges had finished unloading and the drivers called out to Mike.
"Comin' back this trip?"
"Nah! we're going to have a skate on the ice," shouted Paul, waving the men back to the forest.
The boys and Dot put on their skates while Lavinia and Babs sat beside the fire and watched them. Mike had gone on shore to find something.
After the boys were off, Mike returned dragging a long slender birch tree along the ice. He placed it near the raft and sat down on the edge of one of the logs, saying nothing about his errand.
For half an hour, enjoyment of skating made the forest depths echo with laughter from the children. Then they got tired and Paul made a suggestion.
"Let's go out to that log that sticks end up out of the ice, and starting from that, skate back to see who can win a race."
The idea appealed to the others, but Meredith ordered Dot to go back to the raft.
"I, wa-wa-nt to race too! I do-do-n't wa-a-nt to g-go back!" chattered Dot, with blue lips.
"You've got to! You're so cold now you can't talk straight!" exclaimed Meredith.
"Ah, go on, Dot! You're spoilin' my fun!" cried Don, turning to give Dot a little shove toward the raft.
"No, I won't," pouted Dot, dropping upon the ice in sheer contrariness.
"All right, sit there, if you want," said Meredith, starting off, followed by the other two boys.
Dot watched them for a while, but feeling too uncomfortably cold she slowly skated back to the raft and crouched near the fire.
Mike heard her telling Lavinia what the boys were going to do, and he jumped up, grabbed the end of the birch tree and ran swiftly across the ice with his sure-footed buck-skins helping him.
"Hi! Hi!" cried Mike, trying to get the boys' attention. But the wind was against him.
"Him channel! Big hole! Water swish!" yelled Mike, in an agony of fear lest the boys reach the channel-mark before he could get there.
Paul and Meredith were swift skaters and soon outstripped Don, but just as they came near the log which was the goal, Paul's skate loosened and he fell down on the ice. Meredith came over to assist him, and they found that a screw was loose.
"Don's got a broken knife blade that we can use for a screw-driver. We'll wait for him," said Meredith.
Don soon skated up and produced the knife with the broken blade, and Paul tried to fasten the screw in place again.
So intent were they over the repairing of the skate that neither of them heard an ominous crack along the ice as soon as Don's extra weight came near the log.
A few more dull cracks sounded as the ice seemed suddenly to become lined with crooked white lines. Before Paul could fasten his skate on again, however, Mike's voice reached them.
"Back! Back! Big channel by log!"
At the same time, a grinding crack went directly under the boys' feet and Don shot back toward Mike, screaming for Meredith and Paul to come back.
Meredith saw the danger and tried to help Paul up and away, but Paul's skate was still loose and it made him stumble. As he fell down again, the ice, now all ready to yawn for its victim, slowly sunk down with the weight placed upon it, and Paul was almost submerged before Meredith could drag him over to the piece upon which he clung.
At the same time, Mike ran the birch tree over the ice and advised the boys to cling to it for all they were worth.
Paul had all he could do to cling fast to the trunk, for the suction of the channel waters under his stomach and legs was awful!
After some struggling, however, Mike and Don dragged on their end until the boys were pulled over out of the danger zone of the channel.
During this interval, Lavinia sat spell-bound with fear, but Babs was too busy poking twigs in the embers to notice her sister's white face.
As Mike drew the two boys over the ice, Lavinia heaved a mighty sigh and started to cry softly.
"Him big hole! Mike know river oop and down. Mike lil' Injun, so big, Mike take canoe oop and down," explained the trapper, holding his hand down to his knees to show the boys how long he had been acquainted with the treacherous channel.
Paul was soaked and Meredith partially wet, so the boys ran over to the raft where a hot fire was soon blazing to dry off their outer clothing. Mike made the older children sit close together facing the fire, while he took the dry coats of Don, Lavinia and Dot, and spread them over the backs of the five, then he hung the wet coats upon a sapling near the heat to dry.
In half an hour a shout came from the shore and two more sledges were emptied of logs and waiting for the children to go back. In a few moments, they were all sliding and running across the ice and clambered up the bank to get aboard the sleighs.
Dot was eager to tell all about the accident and rescue, but Mike shook his head, and Lavinia placed her hand over her sister's mouth.
The horses were tired after a long day's hauling and moved slowly back to the forests where the men were still cutting timber.
From there, Mike hurried all of his party along the road toward camp and told the girls not to speak of the incident then.
Meredith and Paul were taken to Cookee's cabin and made to sit near the fire while their clothes were hung up to dry. Lavinia went to their bunks and brought clean underclothes to Mike, and so no one knew of it until several days after.
Don and Dot strolled over to the office while the others were in the kitchen, and sat down by the table to have a game of dominoes.
After playing several games, Don made a remark.
"Those rafts will make fine play this spring."
"We won't be here when the river thaws," replied Dot.
"Maybe—who knows how long Daddum'll have to stay."
"Well—s'pose we do, what then?" asked Dot, curiously.
"They're chained fast to the logs—can't break away. We can have heaps of fun playin' on them and paddlin' them back and forth to the shore."
"Ye'es, I s'pose so! But I won't play on 'em until I see for myself whether the chains are rusty or good," retorted Dot, thinking of all the other scrapes her twin had led her into, in which she generally got the worst of the bargain.